Ceratopogonidae is a family of flies commonly known as no-see-ums, or biting midges, generally 1–3 millimetres in length. The family includes more than 5,000 species, distributed worldwide, apart from the Antarctic and the Arctic.
The Empidoidea are a large monophyletic superfamily of true flies, the sister taxon to the Muscomorpha (Cyclorrhapha). These two groups are sometimes united in the unranked taxon Eremoneura. There are some 10,000 known species within Empidoidea, which are represented on all continents except Antarctica. They are known to have existed since the Jurassic period.
Dolichopodidae, the long-legged flies, are a large, cosmopolitan family of true flies with more than 8,000 described species in about 250 genera. The genus Dolichopus is the most speciose, with some 600 species.
Empididae is a family of flies with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide in all the biogeographic realms but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empidoidea, and exhibit a wide range of forms but are generally small to medium-sized, non-metallic and rather bristly.
Platypezidae is a family of true flies of the superfamily Platypezoidea. The more than 250 species are found worldwide primarily in woodland habitats. A common name is flat-footed flies, but this is also used for the closely related Opetiidae which were formerly included in the Platypezidae.
Hybotidae, the typical dance flies, are a family of true flies. They belong to the superfamily Empidoidea and were formerly included in the Empididae as a subfamily.
Trichopezinae are a subfamily of empidoid flies. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives, and generally small to medium-sized, long-legged and large-eyed.
Apystomyia is a genus of flies in the family Apystomyiidae. The genus contains the single living Apystomyiidae species, Apystomyia elinguis, which is primarily found in California. Details of its life history are largely unknown. The extinct genus Hilarimorphites is known from the Cretaceous Burmese and New Jersey ambers. Formerly placed in the Asiloidea, molecular phylogenetic studies in 2010 placed the genus unambiguously as a sister of the Cyclorrhapha within the clade Eremoneura.
Tachydromiinae is a subfamily of hybotid flies widespread in the world.
The Scolebythidae are a small family of aculeate wasps in the superfamily Chrysidoidea. These chrysidoid wasps are found in Africa, Australia, the Neotropics, north China, Thailand and Fiji. They are parasites on larvae of Cerambycidae and Ptinidae.
Brachystomatinae is a subfamily of flies belonging to the family Empididae.
Apystomyiidae is a small family of flies containing the living genus Apystomyia and the extinct genera Apystomimus and Hilarimorphites. The single living Apystomyiidae species, Apystomyia elinguis, is native to California. Species of Hilarimorphites have been described from Mid to late Cretaceous Burmese and New Jersey ambers, while the single Apystomimus species is from the Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan.
Platypalpus candicans is a species of fly in the family Hybotidae. It is found in the Palearctic.
Microphorinae is a subfamily of flies in the family Dolichopodidae. It is part of an expanded concept of the family, Dolichopodidae sensu lato, though it was previously considered a family of its own.
Microphorites is an extinct genus of flies in the family Dolichopodidae.
Ragadidae is a family of true flies in the superfamily Empidoidea. It was formerly considered a lower taxon, but was published as a new subfamily within Empididae in 2016. Since then, it has been classified as the sister group to Empididae, and has been elevated to family level based on the genetic differences which separate it from Empididae.
Homalocnemis is a genus of flies which is placed in a family of its own, the Homalocnemidae. There are about seven species in the genus found in the Afrotropical, Neotropical, and Australasian regions, suggestive of a Gondwanan origin. The genus was formerly considered a primitive empidoid and placed variously in the Hybotidae or in the empidid subfamily Brachystomatinae. They are recognized by their wing venation which includes a long anal cell and a long basal segment of the antennal style.
Eremoneura is a clade of flies within the Brachycera that includes the Empidoidea and the Cyclorrhapha and is a sister of the Asilomorpha. They are thought to have evolved around the Mesozoic. The group includes fossils described in the genus Chimeromyia from 125 million year old amber which show both empidoid and cyclorrhaphan characters. The monotypic family Apystomyiidae has also been placed within the Eremoneura as a sister of the Cyclorrhapha.
Tethepomyiidae is an extinct family of small brachyceran flies known from the Cretaceous period of Laurasia. It is part of the extinct superfamily Archisargoidea. The family is characterised by "very large eyes, reduced mouthparts, a highly reduced antennal flagellum, and greatly reduced venation." The ovipositor of Tethepomyia zigrasi has a hypodermic morphology likely used for injecting eggs into hosts.
Archizelmiridae is an extinct family of flies, known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It belongs to the Sciaroidea, and has suggested to have a close relationship with Sciaridae.
